Leftover Strat Bridge

[erogenousjones17]

Something has been puzzling me lately. When I built my Strat, the first bridge I bought, a 6-hole vintage with a 2-7/32" string spacing, ended up being too wide. I've since thought about installing it on two other guitars, and it's been too wide for them as well. When I say "too wide," I mean that the string spacing is wider than the poles on the bridge pickup, which in both cases were humbuckers. This has me quite perplexed. Does this mean that this particular type of pickup can only be used with Strat single coils? Or does the fact that it's wider than the poles not really matter?

 

[JaySwear]

depends on how wide, but i'm in the "doesn't matter" boat. i've got a vintage flatmount bridge from warmoth that doesn't allow the strings to line up directly over the pole pieces on my strat, but i don't think it's inhibited the sound in any way. the bridge pickup was a F-spaced Dimarzio Super Distortion, and the neck was a Dimarzio Virtual P90.

the only noticeable thing would be the amount of bass the neck pickup has over the bridge, but really with my choice of pickups i expected that. i don't think it's due to the pole piece's placement so much as it has to do with the fact that the neck is a balls-to-the-wall p90-sized humbucker. just my thoughts. i've heard people argue both ways; that the strings should line up perfectly or the sound will suffer, and also that so long as the pickups can accurately pick up the string's vibrations your sound will be just fine.

 

[erogenousjones17]

Well I'm not sure how much it matters either, given that the magnetic fields of each pole overlap and extend beyond the individual poles. What's really baffling is that this bridge is wider than every other bridge/pickup combination I've compared it to (which, granted, has only been three or four guitars). I know it's not some obscure bridge, but why doesn't it seem to fit anything? What nut width, for example, does a bridge like this require? 1-3/4"?

 

[Superlizard]

"F-spaced humbucker"... bingo.

The "F" stands for "Fender" and any 'bucker that is "F-spaced" will fit the wider (Fender vintage, that is) string spacing width (strings line up with the polepieces).

This is also the reason why EVH cocked his humbucker (an old Gibson PAF - obviously non-F spaced) to the side.

 

[Superlizard]

More info:

FAQ over at DiMarzio.com:

What is F-spacing?

All of our full-size humbuckers except the X2N® are available in two polepiece spacings. F-spacing refers to the wider of the two spacings. For proper string alignment and balanced output, F-spaced humbuckers should be used in the bridge position on all guitars with string spacing at the bridge of 2.1" (53 mm) or greater. On these guitars, if the nut width is 1-11/16? (43 mm) or greater, F-spaced pickups can be used in the neck position as well.

Why are there two different spacings?

A long time ago (in the 20th century, actually) the electric guitar world was divided between Gibson and Fender designs. One of the differences between the two was string spacing. In general, Gibson chose a narrower string spacing at the bridge than Fender, and therefore the polepieces on Gibson humbuckers were closer together than the magnets on Fender pickups. When guitar shops started installing humbuckers in the bridge position of Strats, it was obvious that the strings didn?t line up with the polepieces, and if the E strings were too far outside, the sound could suffer. Our first humbuckers followed the original Gibson spacing, and we call them standard-spaced. When we released our first humbuckers with wider spacing, Floyd Rose bridges were very popular. Floyd string-spacing is the same as Fender spacing, so we naturally called the new pickups F-spaced.

How do I know which spacing to use?

F-spaced pickups measure 2.01" (51 mm) center-to-center from the first polepiece to the sixth. Standard-spaced pickups measure 1.90" (48 mm). Although some players believe that F-spaced pickups are only for the bridge position of tremolo bridge guitars, many guitars with fixed bridges (including late 1990s Gibson Les Pauls and Epiphone LPs) should have F-spaced pickups in the bridge position. Most tremolo equipped guitars that have a nut width of 1-11/16? (43mm) or more should also use an F-spaced pickup in the neck position. If you?re replacing a bridge-position pickup and you're not sure what your string-spacing is, it's usually better to get an F-spaced model. It is not necessary for the strings to pass exactly over the center of the polepieces for best performance, but it is wise to avoid a situation where the E strings are sitting completely outside of the outer polepieces.

 

[erogenousjones17]

Thanks for the info Superlizard. Is F-spacing the same as, say, Seymour Duncan's trem (ot "T") spacing? I ask because I've got an SD TB-5 Custom Trembucker in my old Jackson, and it's narrower than this bridge. Wait, I guess I just answered by own question, didn't I?  :tard:

 

[Superlizard]

Thanks for the info Superlizard. Is F-spacing the same as, say, Seymour Duncan's trem (ot "T") spacing? I ask because I've got an SD TB-5 Custom Trembucker in my old Jackson, and it's narrower than this bridge. Wait, I guess I just answered by own question, didn't I?  :tard:

I don't know the actual measurements 'tween the two (f-spaced vs. trembucker), but I'd venture to say that yes, they are the same.

 

[blue313]

From another thread  http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=3192.0

The F is for Fender, but also works for Floyds and other Trems.